Rumbula is a

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural are ...

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

located in the Latgale Suburb, on the right bank of the Daugava river. With a population of about 368 inhabitants in 2010, Rumbula's territory covers . Rumbula is also the home of

Rumbula Air Base Rumbula is an air base located southeast of Riga city centre in Latvia. The airfield was used for military purposes in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1960s it was used as temporary passenger airport for bigger planes until the new Riga Internatio ...

, a defunct airport formerly used by Soviet and Latvian armies. Rumbula is home to Kurbads Ice Hall, which serves as the home arena of the ice hockey team

HK Kurbads HK Kurbads is an ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It is a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League and also compete for the Latvian Cup, winning Latvian Hockey League in 2016–17 and 2017–18 season. The team played its home games at ...

. Rumbula is served by the Rumbula Station on the

Riga–Daugavpils Railway The Riga–Daugavpils railway line ( lv, Dzelzceļa līnija Rīga—Daugavpils) is a long railway line in Latvia which connects the cities of Riga in central Latvia and Daugavpils in south-eastern Latvia. The railway line is double track between ...

Rumbula Massacre

Rumbula is perhaps best known as a pine forest enclave, in which about 25,000 Jews were massacred during the Rumbula massacre in 1941, part of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. The massacre encompasses two incidents on two non-consecutive days (November 30 and December 8, 1941) in which about 25,000 Jews were killed in or on the way to Rumbula forest near

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

, during

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. Except for the

Babi Yar massacre Babi Yar (russian: Ба́бий Яр) or Babyn Yar ( uk, Бабин Яр) is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and a site of massacres carried out by Nazi Germany's forces during its campaign against the Soviet Union in World War II. The fi ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, this was the biggest two-day Holocaust atrocity until the operation of the

death camps Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...

. About 24,000 of the victims were

Latvian Jews The history of the Jews in Latvia dates back to the first Jewish colony established in Piltene in 1571. Jews contributed to Latvia's development until the Northern War (1700–1721), which decimated Latvia's population.R. O. G. Urch. Latvia: ...

from the Riga

Ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

and approximately 1,000 were German Jews transported to the forest by train. The Rumbula

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

was carried out by the Nazi

Einsatzgruppe A (, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the impl ...

with the help of local collaborators of the

Arajs Kommando The Arajs ''Kommando'' (also: ''Sonderkommando Arajs''; ), led by SS commander and Nazi collaborator Viktors Arājs, was a unit of Latvian Auxiliary Police (german: Lettische Hilfspolizei) subordinated to the German ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD). It ...

, with support from other such Latvian auxiliaries

Gallery

File:Rumbula forest memorial near Riga.JPG, Rumbula memorial File:Mass Grave of Jews in Rumbula Forest - Holocaust Site - Riga - Latvia - 03.jpg, Mass grave File:Rumbula forest killing site near Riga.JPG, Rumbula killing site

References

External links

* Neighbourhoods in Riga Forests of Latvia Holocaust locations in Latvia {{Riga-stub